Mike Kelly - Odysseus on the Bases

One day late in the 1889 pennant race, Mike Kelly's Boston club was tied with Washington in the bottom of the tenth inning.  Kelly was on third with two out, but his chances of reaching home with the winning run looked doubtful.  Observing that the infield was playing back, Kelly "edged up nearly halfway home" and "let out" for the plate the moment the pitcher "pulled back to deliver the ball."  The pitch was high and Kelly appeared to be safe only to be called out to the disgust of Tim Murnane of the Boston Globe who insisted victory had been stolen from Boston.  Even though Kelly was unsuccessful, his "desperate" attempt to reach home safely is reminiscent of the late Bart Giamatti's thought that baseball is "a kind of Homeric Odyssey." In this case, Kelly is a baseball Odysseus who leaves home on an challenging journey against opponents determined to prevent his safe return.  Unlike Odysseus, however, Kelly couldn't be successful every time nor would the journey last 10 years, although with the increasing length of games today one never knows.  Even so, if there was ever an Odysseus-like baseball player, it was Mike Kelly who made every journey around the bases an adventure.  

Obviously Kelly's odysseys on the bases couldn't begin until he reached first, something his .307 lifetime batting average enabled him to do with regularity.  More interesting however, is how once at first base, Kelly used Odysseus like resourcefulness to complete the journey and return home safely. Early in his career, the Cincinnati Enquirer credited Kelly with what the paper called an "original run" which began when he used a hit, stolen base and infield out to reach third. When the next batter hit a fly ball to left field, "Kelly observed that the plate was unprotected and ran boldly in."  Building a run in this fashion is hardly unique.  However this is just one of many different methods Kelly used to advance around the bases, methods he employed in multiple combinations.  During his career Kelly moved from base to base on outs, errors, steals, wild pitches, sacrifice flies, passed balls, indifferent defensive play as well as being hit with a thrown ball.  But perhaps even more impressively, Kelly put together at least 16 different combinations of these various ways of advancing to successfully reach home.  It was baseball resourcefulness on a heroic level.   

Hank O'Day as a pitcher with Washington - O'Day is far better known as a Hall of Fame umpire, most notably for calling Fred Merkle out in one of the most controversial plays in baseball history.

While Kelly was an exceptionally fast runner, his baserunning prowess was due to far more than just speed.  Kelly also had a fine baseball mind which he used to take full advantage of his physical ability. Just one example, provided by sportswriter Tim Murnane, was the way Kelly allowed "himself to get mixed up" in a rundown just long enough for another runner to score while avoiding being put out himself.  Kelly's approach to baserunning combined quick thinking and equally quick action. In 1891, a Cincinnati writer marveled at how Kelly scored on "a half passed ball" not solely because he was "quick enough to see the advantage," but also "equally quick to take advantage of it."  Kelly was also a keen observer of the game which made his quick thinking even more effective.  In an 1888 game with Washington, Kelly set the stage for a crucial steal by watching "every movement of O'Day [the pitcher]" until "the moment O'Day's shoulder moved away" and then took off "like the wind."  Close observation and quick action were further complemented by daring leads that Murnane claimed were unlike any other "man in the profession."  Kelly's baseball intelligence, speed and daring made it very difficult for opponents to prevent this Odysseus of the bases from returning home.

When the Boston Globe wanted to criticize Kelly's 1891 contract jumping, the paper could find no better metaphor than his sliding - August 30, 1891

The "only Kel' leveraged his baserunning success even more with slides that contemporary observers considered "great," "remarkable," "inimitable," and "one of the finest ever seen at a ball game."  The high praise illustrates just how difficult Kelly made it for opposing players to know exactly what to expect when he approached a base.  One of Kelly's teammates claimed he was "a boxer with his feet" who "never came into a bag twice in the same way." Especially noteworthy was his use of the hook slide where the runner tucks one leg under his body and slides on that side, using the other foot to "hook" the base.  Whether or not Kelly originated the hook slide is uncertain, but he was given so much contemporary credit for it that historian Peter Morris believes at the very least" "he was responsible for popularizing it."  A showman like Odysseus, Kelly invariably put an exclamation point on his slides - "coming up both arms apart in explanation of how far" the baseman "came from touching him."

 Tim Murnane's evaluation of Kelly's baserunning was based on first hand experience since Murnane played almost 400 major league games before becoming a sportswriter.

All of these elements contributed to Kelly's baserunning success, but the crowning touch was his aggressiveness which characterized his long year major league career.  Just a few months into his 1878 rookie season, Kelly saw a base uncovered while players argued a call and wasted no time advancing there.  Kelly's physical skills may have declined over the years, but he never stopped being aggressive on the bases. Over a decade later, in 1890, after advancing from first to third on a single, Kelly saw fellow Hall of Famer Jim O'Rourke carelessly throw the ball in from right field.  Seizing the moment, Kelly "lit out for home, which he reached in safety."  Mere uncertainty about what Kelly might do, put constant pressure on fielders such as an 1885 game where the opposing shortstop's hesitation allowed two runs to score.  Kelly was so constantly active on the base paths, the Boston Globe offered to provide "free transportation to a blind asylum" to any one who had ever seen this Odysseus in spikes "freeze to a base." 

Harry Wright - Spalding Collection, New York Public Library

Kelly's aggressive baserunning combined with his baseball intelligence, preparation, sound judgement, innovative slides and speed was so extraordinary, it couldn't be fully captured by any box score.  It's no wonder that like Kelly's slides, the media used a full range of superlatives to describe his baserunning as "bold" "daring," "clever," "seldom seen," brilliant," "sensational" and "a thing of beauty and joy forever."   On one occasion when Kelly reached first base against Harry Wright's Philadelphia team, the Hall of Fame manager told a friend he "would rather see any other man in the [Boston] club on base."  It was the same sinking feeling Odysseus' enemies experienced when they too realized their adversary was safe at home.